The Man Who Invented Christmas: first look at Dan Stevens as Charles Dickens

The first official photo of Dan as Charles Dickens in "The Man Who Invented Christmas" has been shared by EW. The film will be released December 2017.

It didn’t require the appearance of three ghosts from different temporal planes to persuade Dan Stevens to play Christmas Carol author Charles Dickens in the film The Man Who Invented Christmas (out this holiday season).

“It was a really spooky, intriguing, funny piece,” the British star of Beauty and the Beast and Legion says of the script, written by Susan Coyne (Mozart in the Jungle). “I just thought it was a really fresh take on that whole world. Particularly in England, Dickens is placed on a pedestal. But the guy was, at turns, quite playful and childish, and, at turns, quite dark and not a very pleasant man.”

Directed by Bharat Nalluri (Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day) and set in 1843, the film details how a broke and depressed Dickens wrote one of his most famous tales. Jonathan Pryce (Game of Thrones) plays his father, and Christopher Plummer portrays Scrooge.

“Dickens whips himself into such a state that he conjures these characters,” explains Stevens. “Scrooge arrives and haunts him and taunts him. It’s quite an interesting dynamic.”

I am really looking forward to seeing Dan's Dickens.....and it is not the first time that he has played him.....2008 "Dickens Confidential" on BBC Radio 4. From time to time this is available to listen to on BBC iPlayer. (Well worth it.)

Always notice that Dan seems much more relaxed when doing interviews with men. His voice alters and his accent seems more British. So many women interviewers, especially US, are painfully gushy or flirty and ask the same questions. He seems sometimes to be taking the mickey out of them, in a gentle way, in his replies.

Thanks for all the new links, videos, interviews etc. After a period of what appeared to be bad PR things have swung the other way! So much going on with new projects to look forward to. Don't overwork, Dan!